Newton's Three Laws of Motion
by jlm110108
Summary: This is a 3 chapter piece of fluff written for the 2007 Summer Alphabet Challenge
1. Chapter 1

**Newton's first law of motion: An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force...**

The sun caressed her face. The sand beneath her beach towel had finally shifted to the point where it cradled her curves comfortably. The dull murmur of the surf had begun to lull her to sleep, and she had finally given up trying to read the physics journal she had brought with her. She lay, eyes closed, as the shrieks of the seagulls seemed to drift farther and farther away. It was the perfect vacation.

In the distance she could hear Charlie and a group of kids enthusiastically chatter as they built sand castles twenty yards away. Not even bothering to open her eyes, she smiled. Knowing Charlie, he was lecturing them on the golden mean in architecture and the forces that made damp sand clump together. The kids would be rolling their eyes and ignoring the crazy old guy. Their parents would be watching carefully, not knowing that their kids were perfectly safe with Cal Sci's most popular professor.

She resisted the urge to open her eyes, get up and join them. Like Caesar's wife, Charlie was above reproach. He would be fine. Her mind drifted as she wondered where on earth the quote about Caesar's wife had originated. She's have to ask Larry after the summer break was over.

"Amita!" her sleep was disrupted by a shout and the sound of pounding footsteps. She sat up, wondering hazily what was going on. Before she could react, she heard a colorful expletive and a cold, wet, sand covered body slammed into her, knocking her sideways.

"Charlie! What on earth...?!"

"Sorry! Sorry! Are you okay? I tripped. I really didn't mean to..." he took her face in his cold, wet, sandy hands. "Are you okay?"

Annoyed, she pushed his hands away and brushed the sand from her face. "I'm fine. What were you thinking?"

Charlie touched her hand gently. "Obviously, my dear, I wasn't thinking. I really had no intent of becoming a living example of Newton's first law of motion."

Amita giggled. "I've never seen a better example of an unbalanced force."


	2. Chapter 2

**Newton's second law of motion: Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the object.)**

Charlie had just put the finishing touches on his latest journal article, and had started to run the spell check on it when his phone rang. "Charlie Eppes," he answered.

"Charles," Larry's exasperated voice came through the airwaves. "I need your help with a physics problem."

"Really? I never thought I'd see the day you'd need my help with physics. What's wrong?"

"I just need your assistance with a practical application of one of Newton's laws. If you're not terribly busy, that is."

"I just finished what I was working on, so now's the perfect time. Are you in your office?"

"Uh, no, not really."

"What do you mean, 'not really.'"

"Well, actually, I'm outdoors."

"Aha," Charlie grinned, looking out the window. "I wish I'd thought of teaching my classes al fresco today. It is the perfect day for it. Whereabouts are you?"

"Over at the entrance to the faculty parking lot. I really didn't want to disturb you, but I desperately need assistance, and you were the first person I thought of."

"It is not a problem, Larry. I'm leaving right now. See you in a minute."

"Actually, Charles, it would take you more like four minutes and twenty eight seconds to get from your office to my current location."

Charlie laughed. "All right. I'll see you in four minutes and twenty eight seconds, then."

Four minutes and twenty two seconds later, Charlie arrived, grinning and checking his watch. "I beat your time by six seconds." He looked around. "Where's your class?" Larry stood next to his Ford Model A, parked literally in the entrance of the faculty parking lot.

"Ah, Charles, you assumed this was for a class. I merely said I needed your assistance with a practical application of one of Newton's Laws."

Suspicion dawned as Charlie looked from Larry to his car. "Which law, Larry?"

Larry smiled and waved a hand toward his car. "The second."

"The second," Charlie said, shaking his head.

"The second. I was not able to provide enough force to achieve acceptable acceleration of the mass of my vehicle. My car stalled. It will not start again, and I need to move it out of this driving lane and into my parking spot."

Charlie sighed and joined Larry at the back of the Model A. "Anyone else would have called AAA. Only you would call a mathematician."


	3. Chapter 3

**Newton's third law of motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.**

It had been a rough week. The three cases had left Don physically, mentally and emotionally drained. All he wanted to do was spend the weekend in his apartment with a refrigerator full of his favorite beer. But he knew that was not a healthy solution. So he drove to Charlie's house.

The sun was setting as he pulled into Charlie's driveway behind Larry's Model A. Amita had parked her seven year old Nissan on the street. Looked like Friday night happy hour was commencing at the House of Eppes. Don sighed as he listened to the siren call of an empty apartment with a full refrigerator. Resisting the urge, he turned off his engine and headed into the house.

"Hello?" No answer. "Charlie?" Still nothing. That was odd. Pressing his hands on his lower back and stretching out the kinks, he walked into the garage. "Charlie?"

Still no answer.

Then he heard it. Three loud popping noises in the back yard, followed by Amita's scream. He drew his service weapon and rushed into the back yard as all traces of fatigue dropped away. "FBI! Freeze!" Another popping noise, and he threw himself to the ground, looking desperately for the gunman. Charlie, Amita and Larry stood, looking scared to death, hands in the air. The gunshots had stopped. "Charlie, is anybody hurt?"

"We're fine." Charlie's voice shook. "Don? What's going on?"

Don got to his feet, gun still at the ready. "Where's the gunman?"

"The only gunman here is you," Larry said, backing away from Don. "May we put our hands down now?"

Blushing, Don holstered his gun. "Sure." He took in the scene. Charlie, Amita and Larry had huddled together, all three looking at him wide-eyed. Charlie had a bottle of water in his hand, and Amita held what looked like a film canister. As Don glanced at the ground, he noticed a dozen or so film canisters scattered around. Some appeared to have some kind of foaming liquid inside of them. As he looked, one of the canisters popped, flying off the ground and spraying foam on Charlie's legs. Open-mouthed, Don turned his gaze back to his brother. "That? That was the sound I heard? Charlie! It sounded like gunshots. I heard Amita scream..." He took a step toward the three cowering professors, his empty hands held up in a sign of surrender. "I am so sorry. I thought you three were in some kind of danger."

Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you'd gone nuts, Don."

"Yes," Larry added, "you did overreact a bit."

Amita chuckled. "More than a little, I'd say."

Don waved a hand at the scattered canisters. "What on earth are you doing?"

Charlie and Larry glanced at Amita, as if the whole thing were her fault. She bit her lip and looked up at Don. "Uh, we were practicing a demonstration for one of my freshman classes. And we got a little carried away."

"What were you demonstrating?"

"Newton's Third Law of Motion." Charlie picked up one of the canisters, opened the lid and filled it about a third of the way with water. He reached into his pocket for an Alka Seltzer and dropped it into the water. Quickly, he put the lid back on and gave the canister a couple of shakes., then set the canister back on the ground. Don could see the foam filling the canister, and then jumped as it popped. Grinning at him, Charlie continued, "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."

Larry picked up the narration. "The action is the rapid release of carbon dioxide, filling the canister and popping the top. The reaction is the downward movement of the rest of the canister. Of course," he continued, preparing another canister, "if Charles had laid his canister like this," he put the canister on the ground on its side, "you would have seen the reaction a great deal more easily." The canister popped and shot backwards along the ground.

Don was shaking his head. "Listen, guys, I'm sorry I overreacted like that. It's been a long, rough week."

Charlie draped his arm around his brother's shoulder. "Let's get you a beer, Bro." As they walked into the house, Charlie laughed.

"What?"

"I think we've discovered another principle here, possibly defying the principle of conservation of energy."

"What's that, Charles?" Larry asked, looking confused.

"When Don is involved, for every action, there is an unequal and opposite overreaction."


End file.
